Reps. Bryant and Windhorst Team Up to Pass Legislation to Study the Reopening of Tamms Minimum Security Correctional Facility

March 14, 2019

Springfield….State Representative Terri
Bryant (R-Murphysboro) and State Representative Patrick Windhorst
(R-Metropolis) joined forces in Springfield this week to pass legislation that
creates a Task Force to study the reopening and repurposing of the shuttered
Tamms Correctional Center.

Bryant was the chief sponsor of
HB 210, and Windhorst served as chief co-sponsor of the measure.

“Reopening and repurposing the
Minimum Security facility in Tamms would be helpful in reducing our crowded
prison population, and would provide badly needed, good paying jobs for
Southern Illinoisans,” Bryant said. “I have worked very hard to get this
legislation to move beyond the Committee process. I have been a strong advocate
for reopening the Minimum Security facility in Tamms since before I started
running for office. There are very powerful forces that closed the supermax,
and I want everyone to know that this Task Force will not be studying reopening
the supermax.”

“I’m hoping that my colleagues
will see how well the Murphysboro reopening and repurposing has gone, and that
the Task Force would look deep into the economic impact that Tamms had on the
area when it was up and running as a supermax, and the economic impact to the
entire region since the facility was closed,” Bryant said.

Rep. Windhorst says that the
Tamms Minimum Security Task Force will be made up of 2 members of the House and
Senate, the Director of Corrections, a representative of AFSCME, an appointee
of the President of Shawnee Community College, an appointee of the President of
Southern Illinois University, the Mayor of Tamms, and a member of the Alexander
County board.

“The goal of the task force will be to study the
regional impact that the facility closures had on Southern Illinois, and to
study the feasibility of reopening the shuttered minimum-security facility,”
Windhorst said. “Reopening Tamms’ minimum-security facility could help
alleviate overcrowding, make our correctional officers safer, and provide good
paying jobs to an area that has been economically devastated.”

Having earned unanimous
committee support on Wednesday night, HB 210 moves to the House floor for
consideration.
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